It takes all of us to make this work

Alpena News editorial

We read with great dismay reporter Crystal Nelson’s recent dispatch on Roger City’s troubles with residents dumping trash at a recycling drop-off station.

Rogers City Mayor Scott McLennan discovered seven bags of household garbage on a recent trip to the recycling station. He felt compelled to call the police and recruit his fellow members of the Rogers City City Council to partner with the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners in exploring potential fines or other means to crack down on trash-dumpers.

“We have to start somewhere, and I think we have to send out a strong message as a city council and a county board that this isn’t going to be tolerated anymore,” he said.

We couldn’t agree more.

When thoughtless, lazy folks dump their trash where it obviously doesn’t belong, it forces public officials to spend valuable time and energy — funded by tax dollars from the rest of us — cleaning up a mess they shouldn’t have to bother with. That’s taxpayer-funded time and energy that could be spent on their actual duties in serving the public.

The word “society” comes from the Latin word for “companion.”

To make this whole thing work, we have to treat each other like friends.

And friends don’t dump extra work on each other, or cost each other money, or waste each other’s time.